Twenty Twelve (2012) Oh What a Season

It just feels so good being a fan of the San Francisco Giants.  You are seeing a bunch of guys who enjoy playing the game of baseball with each other and they are all pulling the rope in the same direction.  This select group of men are happy to be doing what Manager Bruce Bochy has decided on for any given game and their skipper is not letting them down with the decisions he is making.

Bochy has established a set of rules that allows for physical slumps while mental lapses run the risk of the player being demoted or sent packing.  With the exception of Aubrey Huff.  Huff's was a unique case where life interrupted baseball and Bochy fully understood the circumstances.  Bochy showed empathy and concern for his 2010 sparkplug because he believed Huff was straight up with him.  We fans were all asked to "believe" in the Giants so it seems fitting that Bochy believes in his players.

Melky Cabrera, the All-Star game Most Valuable Player was not completely honest.  That goes against the mantra Bochy has between he and his players. And while the Giants are thanking Melky (for giving them the home field advantage for the World Series) it is highly unlikely the orange and black will seek his services in the off-season.

Per Bruce Jenkins' 3-Dot Lounge blog I see where he reiterated something baseball guru, Marty Lurie, said and that was fine for the Reds and Cardinals.  ('Bochy is managing out there.  Mike Matheny is watching.')
But Tiger Manager Jim Leyland is a different kind of strategist altogether.  

In Leyland's career he has led the Pittsburgh Pirates to 3 division crowns.  The 1997 Florida Marlins to a World Series championship.  And the 2006 Detroit Tigers to an American League pennant.  His career tally for a job well done equals 2-pennants and 1-World Series title.

Bruce Bochy also has 2 pennants and 1 World Series title in his career as a big league manager. (1998 San Diego Padres captured the NL pennant.) 

So this is the chess match we have going here.  Who knows his players better?  Who has the players that will deliver the goods?  And we all know who is coming off one helluva roll.  Game 1 is tonight at AT&T. 

Like Tug Mc Graw with the '69 Mets, we all have to have our "Gotta Believe" mojo going because our Giants feed off it like nobody's business.

Let's take care of business at home and then show the world we can also do it on the road (not to be confused with the Beatles' Why Don't We Do It In the Road).

And oh yes,  GO GIANTS(GIGANTES)!!!!!!!!

(thanks to Baseball-Reference.com for the statistical information)

Kevin J. Marquez